The UK farming industry has managed to reduce its antibiotic use by 55% since 2014, but far greater reductions are still needed. Even still antibiotic resistant bacteria has been found in UK rivers prompting calls on the UK government for an urgent ban on the routine use of antibiotics on healthy farm animals.
The new report Life-threatening superbugs: how factory farm pollution risks human health is the first of its kind in the UK and the results expose the far-reaching implications of factory farms on animal welfare, human health and our environment.
Antibiotic resistant bacteria were found in rivers and waterways in areas with high levels of factory farming. Two common bacteria that can cause infection and illness in humans and animals are E. coli and S. aureus; antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were isolated in rivers adjacent to both pig and chicken factory farms and higher-welfare outdoor farms, as well as in slurry runoff from intensive dairy farms. Antibiotic resistance genes were also found.
Read the full article on SustainWeb here
https://www.sustainweb.org/news/nov22-superbugs-rivers-factory-farms/?dg=farming-and-fishing
Read the full report here
https://www.sustainweb.org/assets/221122-superbugs-in-the-environment-Nov22.pdf